Membership Tiers

Membership tiers define the benefits users receive based on their subscription level.

How Memberships Work

Memberships are separate from roles:

• Role = What you can do (permissions)
• Membership = What you get (benefits)

A Guest role user with a Pro membership gets Pro benefits but can’t access admin features. A Staff role user without a membership can access admin features but doesn’t get member benefits.

Membership Benefits

Each tier can include:

Booking Benefits

• Advance booking days - How far ahead you can book resources
• Booking limits - Maximum concurrent bookings
• Priority booking - First access to popular time slots

Pricing Benefits

• Resource discounts - Percentage off resource bookings
• Event discounts - Percentage off class registrations
• Store discounts - Percentage off store purchases

Access Benefits

• Member-only resources - Access to premium equipment
• Extended hours - Access during member-only times
• Custom benefits - Defined per tier

Membership vs Role vs Designation

Need	Use
User should access admin dashboard	Change their Role to Staff or higher
User should get booking discounts	Assign a Membership tier
User should teach classes	Add Instructor designation
User should get 24/7 access	Add Key Holder designation
User should manage other users’ roles	Change their Role to Admin

Granting Memberships

Memberships can be granted via:

Self-Service Payment

The member signs up themselves from the Membership page in their member area, picks a tier and billing interval, and pays through your makerspace’s payment provider. Activation is automatic on payment confirmation. For the member’s walk-through, see Joining a Membership.

Admin Grant (or Freeze, Unfreeze, Cancel)

Admins with the manage_memberships permission can manage a user’s membership directly from the user profile:

1. Go to People → Users and click on the user.
2. In the Membership section of the profile, click Manage Membership.
3. In the modal that opens, pick an action:
   • Grant a tier — choose a tier, a grant type (see below), and optionally add notes (up to 1000 characters) explaining why the grant was made. Notes are stored in the audit log.
   • Freeze — temporarily suspend an active membership. Optionally add a reason (up to 255 characters).
   • Unfreeze — restore a frozen membership.
   • Cancel — end the membership. Optional reason field, same length cap.
4. Click Save to apply.

All grant / freeze / unfreeze / cancel actions are recorded in the audit log with the admin’s identity, the action, and any reason / notes you supplied. Grant volumes also surface in the Membership Signups report (under Reports) when you toggle the Include admin grants filter.

Tip

Cancellations from this modal are immediate. If you need a cancellation that takes effect at the end of the current billing cycle, ask the member to cancel from their own membership card — the self-service cancellation respects whatever billing-cycle policy your makerspace has configured with the payment provider.

Member-initiated pause

The admin Freeze action above is always available regardless of any setting. Separately, you can let members pause and resume their own membership from their account page by turning on the Allow members to pause their membership toggle in Settings → General Settings → Membership & Signup. The setting is off by default. See Member-Initiated Pause for the full walk-through.

Grant Types

• Payment - The member paid through the self-service signup or another billing channel.
• Comp - Complimentary (for staff, instructors, partners, etc.).
• Promotion - Trial or promotional period.
• Staff - Granted to a staff member as part of their role.

Managing Membership Tiers

Go to People → Memberships to:

Create New Tiers

1. Click Create Tier
2. Set name, description, and pricing
3. Configure benefits
4. Set member cap (optional)
5. Click Save

Edit Tier Benefits

1. Click on a tier
2. Modify benefits, pricing, or limits
3. Click Save

Changes apply to new grants; existing members keep their current terms until renewal.

View Subscribers

Click on a tier to see all users currently subscribed.

One Membership at a Time

Users can only have one active membership at a time. If you assign a new tier, it replaces the previous one.

For users who need multiple tiers’ benefits, consider:

• Creating a combined tier with all needed benefits
• Using designations for capability-based access instead